Kendra Dowen ~ Family Center of Washington County

I did my CBL @ The Family Center of Washington County which taught me A TON about inclusivity of abilities, socioeconomic status and the impact you can have on a family by offering resources and quality childcare at a young age. From there my desire to help and stand for inclusivity grew and really paved the way for the trajectory of my professional career. I have facilitated mentoring programs in Title 1 schools to increase students social capital, worked in behavior based classrooms for children with special needs 2-18 years of age, volunteered at summer camps for 8-12 year olds who have behavior challenges, worked at a continuation High School in San Pedro, CA where 95% of my students were facing a lack of a basic need (think food, clothes, housing stability etc.), and oversaw Teen Centers for a very similar demographic of kids/led trainings for staff who had kids with learning disabilities and intense behaviors. I later went on to get my Masters in Youth, Family and Community Sciences because I have developed a desire to help people and communities succeed. I would 100% give credit of my professional desires, growth and trajectory to that experience at The Family Center of Washington County via my Community-Based Learning. And last but certainly not least, they took a chance and hired me for the summers I returned from college and offered me a full-time position upon my college graduation.